Pronunciation Noun
wit
- (now usually in the plural, pluralonly) Sanity.
- He's gone completely out of his wits.
- (obsolete usually in the plural) The senses.
- Intellectual ability; faculty of thinking, reasoning.
- Where she has gone to is beyond the wit of man to say.
- The ability to think quickly; mental cleverness, especially under short time constraints.
- My father had a quick wit and a steady hand.
- Intelligence; common sense.
- The opportunity was right in front of you, and you didn't even have the wit to take it!
- 1460-1500, The Towneley Playsː
- I give the wit, I give the strength, of all thou seest, of breadth and length; thou shalt be wonder-wise, mirth and joy to have at will, all thy liking to fulfill, and dwell in paradise.
- 1609, William Shakespeare, ''Sonnet 23:
- O, learn to read what silent love hath writ:
- To hear with eyes belongs to love's fine wit.
- Humour, especially when clever or quick.
- The best man's speech was hilarious, full of wit and charm.
- 1991, Stephen Fry, The Liar, p. 37:
- ...the cemetery—which people of shattering wit like Sampson never tired of calling ‘the dead centre of town’...
- A person who tells funny anecdotes or jokes; someone witty.
- Your friend is quite a wit, isn't he?
- 1601, Ben Jonson, Poetaster or The Arraignment: […], London: Printed [by R. Bradock] for M[atthew] L[ownes] […], published 1602, OCLC 316392309 ↗, Act III, scene iv ↗:
- Tuc[ca]. […] Can thy Author doe it impudently enough? / Hiſt[rio]. O, I warrant you, Captaine: and ſpitefully inough too; he ha's one of the moſt ouerflowing villanous wits, in Rome. He will ſlander any man that breathes; If he diſguſt him. / Tucca. I'le know the poor, egregious, nitty Raſcall; and he haue ſuch commendable Qualities, I'le cheriſh him: {{...}
- (intellectual ability) See also Thesaurus:intelligence
- German: Verstand, Intellekt
- Italian: ingegno vivace, arguzia
- Portuguese: intelectual, intelecto
- Russian: ум
- Spanish: intelectualidad, intelecto
- German: Auffassungsgabe
- Italian: arguzia, genio, acutezza
- Portuguese: agudeza, agudez
- Russian: ум
- Spanish: agudeza, inteligencia, ingenio, mentalidad, gracia, listeza
- French: mot d'esprit
- German: Witz
- Italian: senso umoristico, motto di spirito, spirito, prontezza di spirito, brio
- Portuguese: humorístico, humor, engraçado
- Russian: остроу́мие
- Spanish: humor, gracia, mordacidad, chiste espontáneo
- French: petit malin
- German: Witzbold
- Italian: ilare, battuta, facezia, spiritosaggine, freddura
- Russian: остря́к
- Spanish: imaginativo, divertido , hilaro, hilara
(ambitransitive, chiefly, archaic) Know, be aware of (constructed with of when used intransitively). - You committed terrible actions — to wit, murder and theft — and should be punished accordingly.
- They are meddling in matters that men should not wit of.
- 1611, King James Version, Exodus 2:3–4:
- And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child therein; and she laid it in the flags by the river's brink. And his sister stood afar off, to wit what would be done to him.
- 1849, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, St. Luke the Painter, lines 5–8
- but soon having wist
- How sky-breadth and field-silence and this day
- Are symbols also in some deeper way,
- She looked through these to God and was God’s priest.
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- (Southern American English) (before consonants) IPA: /wɪt/, (before yod) /wɪtʃ/
- (Southern American English) Pronunciation spelling of with#English|with.
WIT
Noun
wit (plural wits)
- (hunting, AU) Initialism of waterfowl identification test
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